Francis Hamit | Self-Publishing Review

Changing Distribution Channels Will Affect How You Price Your Next Book

The Borders chain has been in trouble for quite awhile, and now it seems that all of their 45 stores in the United Kingdom will close. 200 Borders stores in the USA will also close. This used to be a great place to do book signings and readings and otherwise promote a new book, but no more. Creditors, led by Ingram, have forbidden such activities or even single copy orders except online. Barnes & Noble is also closing some of their smaller outlets under other trade names. Waldenbooks will disappear. As for independents, they have been closing when not acquired […]

Francis Hamit2011-10-08T18:47:34+02:00December 4th, 2009|Categories: Features|

Street Level Views of Book Marketing

We did another little book tour in August. It was time. The economy was creating a stagnant sales profile, and we know that doing a few book signings primes the pump. We made our arrangements with four Hastings Entertainment stores, two of which we were at last year. (This makes a total of sixteen book signings with Hastings Entertainment stores.)

Why the repeat appearances? Because we were on the same route to and from our house in Texas that we were last year. One of the book managers asked us to return because she had five signed copies we’d left […]

Francis Hamit2011-10-08T18:53:35+02:00September 17th, 2009|Categories: Features|

In Praise of Billy Mays

When that ubiquitous television pitchman Billy Mays died recently, I had just started watching the reality series about him and his partner, Anthony Sullivan, appropriately called “Pitchmen”, on the Discovery Channel. I’ve done a lot of sales work over the years as “day jobs” supporting my writing career; so much so that I tend to forget that the process remains mysterious to most writers, who remain clueless about this essential rite of modern commerce.

The hard truth is that everyone sells, and where a self-published book is concerned (or a first time one, for that matter), if you don’t sell […]

Francis Hamit2024-07-01T15:32:40+02:00July 8th, 2009|Categories: Features|

Marketing: Your Title Defines Your Book and Your Brand

The issue of branding is critical to a self-published author; It defines your book and it also defines you in the public mind. The obvious problem here is to find a title that stands out from the rest, attracts the attention of potential buyers and actually tells them what the book is about. It is the first step in answering the question in every reader’s mind; why should I read this book? Why should I care?

And here’s an odd thing; if you are well-established in one kind of writing that can actually hinder you when you switch to other […]

Francis Hamit2011-10-08T19:11:38+02:00May 11th, 2009|Categories: Resources|

A Few (Thousand) Words with Carol Buchanan

Introduction: Carol Buchanan is the author of the self-published novel God’s Thunderbolt: The Vigilantes of Montana, winner of the 2009 Spur Award for Best First Novel. I met Carol Buchanan online, when we were both posting to the boards of the Amazon Shorts program. Both of us were frustrated by the barriers currently erected by the mainstream publishing industry to new fiction, and both of us decided to do it ourselves. She gave my book a great review and I read hers and was honestly able to reciprocate. When her book won the 2009 Spur Award, given by […]

Francis Hamit2011-10-08T19:16:23+02:00April 20th, 2009|Categories: Interviews, Lead Story|

Self-Published Novel Wins Major Literary Award

That’s a headline we’ll be seeing more of in the future. The barrier erected by agents on behalf of publishers has come back to haunt them. In this instance we are talking about Carol Buchanan’s historical thriller God’s Thunderbolt: The Vigilantes of Montana which has already been reviewed by SPR. It just won the 2009 Spur Award for Best New Novel. Here is what Carol said on her most recent blog entry on Amazon.com:

God’s Thunderbolt: The Vigilantes of Montana” has been given the 2009 Spur Award for Best First Novel. The Spur Award is given by the Western

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Francis Hamit2011-10-08T20:30:25+02:00April 1st, 2009|Categories: News|

Enhancing Your Brand with Affinity Merchandise

“Affinity merchandise” is a fancy term for everyday promotional items that every business uses to enhance its brand and create good will. They are also known as “advertising specialties” and “swag”. There are so many choices, ranging from pencils, to the latest Flip video mini-camera, that choosing which items will work for you requires some really deep thought.

You are not just selling your book, but also your brand…and you are a brand. Brands have their own equity, and branding is something you really want to do with your author name because it not only sells your current book, but […]

Francis Hamit2011-10-08T20:03:55+02:00March 6th, 2009|Categories: Resources|

It May Be Forever by David M. Quinn

Let it be said first that It May Be Forever: An Irish Rebel on the American Frontier is an excellent, very enjoyable book which would win the highest rating if we did that kind of thing at SPR. The problem is that is resists classification. Is it a history, a non-fiction novel, a biography, or historical fiction? It works best as the latter, but one does not normally find photographs and other illustrations in such text, nor a bibliography. A glossary of terms, sometimes, but any fictional text that fails to generate reader understanding of what these mean organically […]